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Moving to Mac! How entry level can I get?
Greetings,
I have finally decided to make the switch from an older Adobe Premiere Pro edit system on a PC to FCP and a Mac. I will be making the upgrade this coming year with the idea of editing HDV material, either natively or perhaps with AIC. At my full time job I’m using a nice 8 core MacPro. I can’t afford that but here’s my idea:
Get a refurbished iMac, say 24 inch display.
Get as much ram as possible.
Processor would be like a 2.66 Ghz Core2 Duo and a 1066 FSB.
Get an external Firewire800 drive like a G-raid for video storage.
(Remember we’re talking HDV-AIC storage requirements here, not uncompressed HD)
Get an external Blue Ray burner for delivery. USB 2.0I know this setup will likely WORK, the question is will it work WELL? Will AIC throughput choke on the Firewire800 drive? Will the Core2 Duo have enough horsepower? Is 2-4 gigs of ram enough?
Just to give you an idea I work full time at a TV station and then moonlight doing industrial and wedding videos. Maybe 10 projects per year? Not a ton of work and RARELY with a client sitting next to me. I know that this situation is not really upgradeable. But think about it, I could actually take my project in to work on the external drive and do any heavy rendering overnight at work on my 8 core! Later on I may be able to afford the mac pro.
Please comment.
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3 Replies
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I hope your boss is really okay with your plan to bring your outside for-pay work in to use with the company system, you might want to make sure about that. Especially since you mentioned it on the internet, in public.
Yes, you can edit HDV with an imac, but you’re going to need external drives I think. If I were you and going this route, I would save every dime from the first five jobs and then spend it on a pro tower setup, and not keep working the imac too long.
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Check apple’s site for full specs…
aroud USB burners…. there are lots of FireWire ones… I have one from OWC
Richard M. Harrington, PMP
Author: Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and ATS:iWork
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If you’re really strapped. MacMini.
Kevin Monahan
60 Blu-ray Templates for Final Cut Studio 2009
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
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